Stories

Ida to participate in MN Special Olympics Polar Plunge on behalf of Buffalo Rotary!

Our very own Rotary exchange student, Ida Christensen, will represent the Buffalo Rotary Club at Buffalo’s first ever Polar Plunge! Ida graciously accepted the challenge to jump into the freezing waters of Buffalo Lake on March 11th! She will jump run in-out of the lake, given our unpredictable Minnesota winters! Why you ask would anyone want to jump into a frozen Minnesota lake in the middle of winter?! To support Special Olympics MN of course! Funds from the Polar Plunge provides opportunities for over 8,000 Minnesota athletes. The Buffalo event has raised over $17,000 and counting!

Thank you to those who helped contribute $120 in donations at our club meeting this past Wednesday to sponsor Ida. If you were not there, there is still an opportunity to help sponsor Ida and the Buffalo Rotary team. $75 is required for each jumper... we are $30 away from one more jumper joining Ida that day. (She has several friends that are willing to participate, but unable to come up with the funds to do so. All would be willing to jump on behalf of the Buffalo Rotary Club.)

Please contact Jason Chalupnik to help sponsor another jumper or click here to support Ida & the Buffalo Rotary Team!

Our Buffalo Rotary Foundation/Club partnered with two other Rotary Clubs, the Minneapolis City of Lakes Rotary Club, and St. Cloud Rotary Club, to send school supplies down to Guatemala for the Common Hope students.

There is a team in Guatemala right now, and they will deliver some of these supplies. They sent us a link below to follow their trip through their photo diary.

Today Buffalo Rotary with Toys for Tots distributed toys to 270 families, providing toys for roughly 650 children in the Buffalo and Montrose area! It was a fun day, and a success! Thank you to all that helped with distribution, sorting, counting toys, shopping, delivering boxes, and every other task that was needed to make this wonderful event happen! A special thanks to Jean, our Toys for Tots Coordinator that has put countless hours into this event, we couldn't do it without you!

And Oh, What A Night it was!!! This year's annual Buffalo Rotary Car Raffle Fundraiser was filled with disco balls, platform shoes, and bell-bottom pants. Our members were able to sell all 400 tickets, making the evening a successful sold-out event.

The Car Raffle Fundraiser remains to be the biggest fundraising event for the Buffalo Rotary. 100% of all funds raised at the event are donated back to our local and international communities. Through this fundraiser, we are able to to help programs, such as: Toys For Tots, Buffalo Food Shelf, Beds For Kids, Local school scholarships, Adopt A Family, Concerts in the Park, Fishing Klinic for Kids, Wright County Safe Communities, Mentorship Programs, Instrument Trail in the Park, Timber Bay, Capable Partners, Let's Go Fishing, Student Exchange Program, and many more community projects.

We appreciate all of the volunteers who made this night so fantastic. Extra special thanks to Pat Michalicek, Shawn Corbin, and Scott Goodmanson for their work in planning and executing the evening.

Congratulations to the seven winners who all shared a piece of the $10,000 prize, taking home $1,428.57 each.

Are you available to help with the Buffalo Food Shelf delivery on Friday afternoons OR the upcoming Capable Partners Picnic on August 5th? Talk to Al Carroll-Pezella with questions about the Buffalo Food Shelf events or Scott Enter about the Capable Partner's Picnic to see how you can help make these events a success! Signups can be done either at our meeting on Wednesday or now ONLINE (Food Shelf delivery only)!

Thanks a Million!

The Rotary Club of Buffalo would like to extend a sincere THANK YOU to Wayne Gangl from West Suburban Auto and Mark & Trish Daluge from T & M Towing for their generous gift of time and talents to make our Car Sinking event possible. They may not be Rotarians yet, but we feel they definitely have earned the “Service Above Self” award. Thank you all for your help in making this a successful fundraiser.

Julie Warner , Rotary Vocational Chair presents the Vocational award to Suzanne O'Dell for her countless hours or community service, good work and contributions to the community. Suzanne's example is worthy of being followed by anyone.